'Scandal' Season 7 Spoilers: All Bets Are Off When Mellie Hosts Her First State Dinner in Episode 2
Olivia Pope (Kerry Washington) secretly taps Jake Ballard's (Scott Foley) help on the upcoming episode of "Scandal" season 7.
Titled "Pressing the Flesh," next week's episode will see President Mellie Grant (Bellamy Young) host a state dinner for President Rashad of Bashran as the first step in her efforts to make peace with the Middle East. Olivia puts Jake into action in case something goes wrong during the event and comes up with a backup plan.
Meanwhile, members of Quinn Perkins & Associates attend the state dinner as well. The team heads to the event in hopes of gaining more high-profile clients for their firm.
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Spoiler reports note the episode will show Olivia getting a clearer picture of her role in present-day politics. Fans can expect her to use the skills she learned during her time at Olivia Pope & Associates. Based on the show's history, it's possible that Mellie's state dinner will not happen without any problems. This might mean that Olivia's crisis management skills will be put to the test.
Although Mellie already won the elections, her fight is far from over. Young recently caught up with TVLine and she said her character will be facing more struggles as the story moves forward. The challenges she needs to deal with include convincing everyone to trust her as an effective leader.
"First and foremost, America is not yet acclimated to having a woman in power," the actress explained. "So nothing that Mellie does can be seen in its own right. It's seen through the filter of how her hair looks that day, or if she wore pants."
She added, "So there's that, just being a woman in power — a single woman in power, which is unprecedented. And since this is Shondaland, we'll definitely explore that."
The seventh and final season of "Scandal" airs every Thursday night at 9 p.m. EDT on ABC.
